


Precautionary Measures

by nessundorma345 (wastrelwoods)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-18
Updated: 2013-05-18
Packaged: 2017-12-12 05:52:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/808041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wastrelwoods/pseuds/nessundorma345
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce and Natasha talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Precautionary Measures

**Author's Note:**

> Turning the multi-chapter work into a series, because it's easier to tag that way.

In the back left pocket of Natasha's belt, tucked behind the extra .44 clips and a gas-mask, there is a simple syringe. Anyone on the team who cares enough to examine her tools knows about it. They know that she's had it for at least five years and has never used it, except once when the sharp doubled as a lock-pick. The syringe itself is empty.

What they don't know about is this; one of the conductors on her Widow's Bite (right side, seventh from the clasp) contains a small capsule filled with a pale red liquid that happens to be one of the single most deadly substances on earth. Even if they did find it out, only a very select few would realize that the capsule was meant for the syringe. Natasha knows precisely how long it would take her to unload and prepare the entire ensemble in the field - three and seventeen hundredths of a second. She also knows that, were she preparing it with its intended purpose in mind, the job would take ten and forty-one hundredths of a second, because her hands would be shaking.

Only four people know about the eventual intended use of the clear red liquid, and one drools a lot and isn't allowed anything sharp because of what he might do with it. One person who doesn't know about it is the intended target. Natasha knows quite a lot more about the whole affair than she ever really wanted to. But being an agent isn't about what you want. It's about doing what you've been told even if it kills you. Especially if it kills you. 

She is with Bruce when it all comes crashing down, because Natasha knows that she would stand by Bruce and watch the world burn to ashes. The battle of the moment has ended, and nothing much is happening, which is fine. There's an underlying sense of peace, as the two sit against the thick glass of the Hulk cage, his head resting in her lap. Natasha runs a hand through his thick, dark hair and almost smiles, she's so caught up in the moment. 

Bruce just stares up at her as though she's the only thing he can see, with his crooked, sardonic grin spread shamelessly across his tired face. He makes no attempt to move, exhausted utterly from the fight earlier. Doom had kept them at it for hours, clip after clip of bullets and finally shock after shock from the Bite disappearing in the effort to staunch the endless wave of mechanical drones. Loki was collaborating with the crazy Latverian again, it seemed, and such circumstances never boded well for the team, which never got much sleep anyway.

Bruce shifts, an undefinable look crossing his face. "Why do you put up with me, Tasha? I'm da-"

"-If you say 'dangerous', so help me I will get up and leave right now, Doctor." Natasha buries her fingers deep in his hair again, pursing her lips. "And please, let's not talk about how you're too old, or how...how many people you've killed. It gets annoying." 

Bruce sighs. "That doesn't make it any less true." Still, he melts under the gentle pressure of her fingers, letting out a noise almost like a purr. Natasha is silent, thinking suddenly about that syringe.

Bruce senses the change in mood, opening his eyes and catching her wrist - gently - in his own. His dark eyes search Natasha, doubt flickering in his eyes. "So you do think that I'm dangerous?" 

Natasha heaves a deep sigh. "I didn't say anything about..." The conductor slides open with a faint click, sliding the capsule into Bruce's hand. She sits very still as he raises an eyebrow, examining the pale red liquid with thinly veiled interest.

He laughs, soft and filled to the brim with a dark self-loathing. Bruce lifts his head carefully out of Natasha's lap, rolling the capsule between two thick fingers. "This, on the other hand. This is pretty ...dangerous stuff, Tasha. How long have you had this?"

"Since Director Fury issued it to me." Natasha states calmly and cooly, standing up to face Bruce. He meets her eyes and sees the truth, and lowers his face into his hands. "It's just a precautionary measure, in case-"

"In case you need to kill me." It isn't a question. "Iranium Hydroxide infused with Barium salts. Deadly, even to a Hulk." Bruce takes a shaky breath, refusing to meet Natasha's eyes. "Tell me the truth. If it comes down to it, will you use it?"

The Black Widow and her target. Natasha and her lover. The prevalent answer has always been clear. "Yes." she says, and watches Bruce crack, because it isn't a lie. It isn't about what she wants. It never is. 

Doctor Banner tosses the capsule back to her, and she clips it back in position, waiting innocently for the right moment, when someone calls a last resort and Natasha will be powerless to refuse. Maybe the day will never come, though they both know, now, that it will. She turns to leave, and Bruce calls after her.

"Tasha?"  he half-growls. She slows, not daring to look back and see the green creeping across his skin. "I'm glad...I'm glad that it's you. If it had to be anyone, I'm glad that it's going to be you."

In the back left pocket of Natasha's belt there is a syringe, and on her right wrist there is a capsule half full of a pale red liquid. In the end, all that she can decide will be whether or not she's compromised enough to let her hands shake when the moment comes.


End file.
